I Feel Lost (Art Advice)

[StrawberrySmiles]

Most of you know of my drawing style. And how I draw sketches, A LOT.

Each time I attempt to color my art, either traditionally or digitally, it feels like I lose my style - as seen here.

I've been saving a bunch of pictures from artists I follow/like in hopes of some inspiration. So I'm very curious: does any seem like a good fit for my style?

You can see them here.

Thank you!

 

[BizarreMonkey]

What I personally recommend is that because your linework is so gentle and soft, using pale pastel colors might be a really good way to start.

As I suspected, you're using near-psychedelic harshly bright colors for outlines that are soft and gentle, as a result it looks quite messy, I'll see if I can't quickly color one of the arts above to give you an idea of what may look really nice

Here we go, no idea how she's meant to be colored so I just went with what looks decent to me, however, one thing i will say is that you will need to recolor the outlines, thankfully this is easy, just make a new layer above the linework, turn it into a clipping mask, then add a bright saturated color to that layer, then perhaps a couple dobs where another color fits better. For example:

Without the clipping layer mode on it looks like this.

Hope I helped.

 

[bacon]

So I actually enjoyed the last piece you posted in pwoym, it was decently colored. What I would suggest you do in diversify what colors you use. Example: the red in the hair. Instead of just using hues of red and orange, add some purple or blues. Blend your reds with different colors to create a palette. The more exotic you are with your color choice the better it will look and the less 'flat' it will appear

 

[bacon]

What I would really recommend you do is check out what studio ghibli does with their colors, I think your style matches that style very well. Keep it simple and clean while diversifying your colors a bit

 

[bacon]

I disagree using pastel colors too, they will make your characters look flatter. Color is going to be your best friend.

 

[bacon]

And remember practice makes perfect little lady.

 

[BizarreMonkey]

Well the pastel coloring was just one route, what's difficult about using harsher colors is that Strawb's line art is very soft so it tends to be very obvious where one color ends and another starts, which as a result, looks very messy.

But Strawb's lineart is gorgeous, so I think if it can be preserved somehow, it should be.

 

[StrawberrySmiles]

Do you mean to paint under the sketch? The lineart should be cleaned up some more if I plan on doing that. Hm.

 

[BizarreMonkey]

Do you mean to paint under the sketch?

How else would you do it?

 

[StrawberrySmiles]

Idk hahahaha. I did manage to clean up the lineart of sketch yesterday, so I'll try a combination of different suggestions. :P